Congats to our two news job fillers.

I thought we would kick the week off with a typical tale from our government.

Our Mpumalanga Premier- David Mabuza once had this spokesman- Mabutho Sithole. Our esteemed Mr Sithole was bust and subsequently arrested for bribing a City Press jouro, Sizwe Sama Yende with the hefty amount of R5 000. (now given the government's disregard for the value of money-Yende must have been well aggrieved about the tiny amount) Yende was investigating a R230 million agricultural tender awared in 2008 by the Premier's office to the Premier's former business partner, Patrick Chirwa. Sithole is out on R6 000 bail.

Mabuza announced that Sithole was being removed from his post, for time off to deal with his case. At the time, Sithole was under a 5 year contract. In no way was any internal action taken of course, because, let's face it, there is nothing wrong with the odd bribe and of course, it was for a good cause- to protect Mabuza it would seem.
Fast forward to the present, Mr Sithole has now been appointed Director of Community Outreach-this being a permanent job. Of course nobody in the Premier's office sees anything wrong with filling a position without following the required legal process or in contravening the Public Services Act by changing his contract to permanent. (The post had been vacant, and was not advertised for, as is required by law)

Apparently the Director General saw it fit to allow Sithole to work in government, pending the outcome of his trial and he would not be suspended.  As for the not following procedures- it was a 'horizontal move', which they are allowed to do without following procedures apparently.So well done Mr Sithole on the new position. I am sure you will very well there.

And the good news does not stop there, I would like to congratulate Mike Mabuza for being transfered to a senior post in the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Administration. The post also was not advertised, but I see their logic- it was also a horizontal move seeing that Mike was a policeman before the transfer.

You have to love it...and we wonder where our tax money goes!

The search for ET life goes on...and on...

Reading in The Star yesterday I came across and article where a Dr Howard Smith, a senior astrophysicist at Harvard University states a)That the chance of discovering alien life is remote and b) If we did, it would be almost impossible to make contact with them.
Smith states that of the 500 planets discovered outside our solar system, are either to close or to far away from their sun (thus too hot or cold to support life) or have unusual orbits, thus not allowing water to remain in a liquid form. (Water being essential for life as we understand it).
Based on this he say- 'The new information we are getting suggests we could effectively be alone in the universe.' He further goes on to say, 'There are very few solar systems or planets like ours. It means that is is highly unlikely that there are any planets with intelligent life close enough for us to make contact.'

How arrogant. So, in his assumptions, I guess unless we find life on a planet close to ours, it cannot be intelligent.

There are billions of galaxies in our universe and it really simplistic to assume that we are the only life around. Furthermore, seeking life only on what we understand is also very limiting. More and more organisms on earth have been found thriving in extreme conditions (High and low temperatures, without oxygen etc), thus it would seem pretty logical for the people who search for this extra terrestrial life, to broaden their parameters and definitions. There may just be intelligent life on a planet that is thick with helium and has temperatures close to zero degrees Celsius or lower. Shock and awe, they may not even need oxygen to survive as their body make up would be so different compared to us oxygen breathers.

Stephen Hawking and the late Carl Sagan both believed there was life on other planets. Both saw this as rational based on the size of the universe.

As for the contact with alien life is concerned, this is a bit more complicated. The chances of a two way conversation between planets would be remote, given the distance and our barrier of speed, being that below light speed.
However, there are some theories. One would be the much talked about wormholes, which would allow space travel over large distances in the blink of an eye. We could also assume that they are either more advanced that we are or may have a better understanding of the universe and it's laws, to know how to manipulate them for their own use. Even if they are the same age as humans, it would be safe to assume their growth took on a different road to ours and that they would know and have things we don't, as we would know and have things they don't.

Neither travel nor communication between two or more space civilizations would be conventional, that we can safely assume. But that does not mean that there are not other means. The same as discovering life on another planet or body, whether it be a single celled organism would be ground breaking. We need to break past our idea that to be intelligent one needs to be of humanoid build and to be alive one must breathe oxygen.  Rules on earth regarding life, may not apply elsewhere.

There may be alien astronomers looking at earth and saying it is too cold for life, besides, it has to much oxygen to support life anyway.

Crash and Burn

South Africa is a land blessed with many things- wonderful weather, awe inspiring scenery, wild animals, powerful thunderstorms and mostly friendly people.
Having said this, South Africa is known more for it's negatives- crime, abuse, lousy education and health care system, corruption....and so on.

Another alarming topic is our driving. During the Soccer World Cup last year, many visitors expressed how aggressive our drivers were and that there is a total lack of respect for laws. Sadly this is the case. Although up to date figures are difficult to come by, I came across some interesting figures. In the UK, it is reported some 2222 (2009 figure) die annually....that is over twelve months! In Japan the figure is 4919 (2009), Sweden-270 (2010) and Israel 370 (2009). These figures come from a World Health Organization Report. In New Zealand over the holiday period ending 2nd January 2011, 11 people died on their roads and Australia there were 40 odd! Both were shocked at the high number.

In South Africa, from 1 December till the 5th of January, we had 1551 road deaths. ( This total is in dispute as it is known that the Department of Transport plays with the figures to reduce the levels)
It is estimated our monthly toll stands at around 1 000.

It goes without saying that this figure is way to high for any civilized country with a decent road infrastructure.
The main reasons given are drinking and driving and speed. Also the pedestrian death toll is pretty steep. Overloading is another cause. Our so called taxi's and buses are packed to capacity as this means extra profit- and as a result, when there is an accident, the chance for large amounts of injured and fatalities is increased.

The minister of transport, Sbu Ndebele, thinks the answer lies with 'driver training, enforcement and education.' Apparently this information will focus on teaching the public that such a high death rate is not natural-like any fool really needs telling.

As for Arrive Alive- it advertises on radio, TV and print media- yet, despite some of the adverts being shocking, it does not sink in. As for enforcement- well, the metro police are usually up for a bride, so many drunk drivers get home safely by some miracle because they have the correct amount of cash in their wallets to purchase a 'get out of jail free card.' This goes for most offences though and the fact that many times the metro police ignore offences when they are not in the mood to work.
Then there is the fact that politician get off with a slap on the wrist. (Eg Dan Kguthule-escaped a mandatory jail sentence and still keeps his licence for almost going double the speed of the limit).
This sends the wrong message to the public, who think that they may do as the examples set by the well known people of this country.

To make a difference we need a decent judicial system, we need hard working and un-corrupt law enforcement people and most of we all need to take responsibility on our own shoulders each time we get behind the wheel.